World’s first surviving septuplets – look at them 20 years later

By Lela Ordinaev, Apr 24, 2018

It’s not easy being a new parent. There are the tireless nights that keep you up from the crying and hollering. Then there’s the constant supervision an infant requires. Babies need to be fed and changed regularly and monitored so they don’t bump into corners and grab a hold of something they absolutely should not ever put in their mouths. Any parent will tell you that raising a child is no piece of cake. It requires devotion, patience, and not to mention a ton of cash.

That’s why there are tons of magazines, blogs, and books devoted to the art of child rearing. It seems these days that every parent has a different technique that they suddenly created or followed from a celebrity – which can be quite controversial. Take Clueless star Alicia Silverstone for instance. She was once caught by paparazzi chewing food herself and feeding it to her young infant. The internet went crazy, unsure if the strange choice was dangerous or totally healthy. Either way it didn’t stop from the claws to come out and criticize the choice of the mother. When it comes to raising a baby, everyone has an opinion.

Now imagine being a new parent to not just one new baby but to a whopping seven babies. You heard us correctly. That’s what happened to Bobbi and Kenny McCaughey of Des Moines, Iowa. In 1997 Bobbi got pregnant after undergoing a procedure that would make her incredibly fertile. The family was stunned by the revelation. They just couldn’t believe something so otherworldly would happen to them. At that point there had been no survivors from a septuplet birth. The parents decided to go against the doctors’ wishes to ease the baby load and do a procedure that would limit the amount of children. They decided that they would leave it into the hands of the universe and so the pregnancy continued…

Finally on November 19, 1997 all the children were born. The family couldn’t believe it but all seven babies survived. More than two decades later and the kids are thriving. They truly thanked the universe for what they couldn’t believe came true: their family became the first family to give birth to all-surviving septuplets.

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Like all strange phenomenons there was a backlash. The family was criticized for putting their babies at risk since it was unlikely that all the children would survive. They also received letters criticizing the family for creating such a large family that would require many resources. Regardless the family moved past the backlash and are thriving in their life in Iowa. They’re thrilled to have a large and happy family and are excited to share with the world how the family is doing today.